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If many people become resistant to those newer and stronger antibiotics there’ll be nothing left to offer. So if we are not more careful there will be increasing numbers of people with serious bacterial infections that can’t be treated - which could become a major calamity.

Antibiotics are a precious and finite natural resource that we must conserve for when they are absolutely needed.

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Most antibiotic prescribing in England is by GPs (74 per cent), with the rest prescribed in hospital (11 per cent for in-patients, 7 per cent as outpatients) and in dental practice (5 per cent).

Antibiotics work on treating bacterial infections and not viral illnesses. So patients need the right dosage at the right time when their bacterial infection is bad enough to need treating and is not getting better naturally, for antibiotic treatment to be justified and worthwhile.

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My five year old daughter Chloe has had a very bad cold and has been off school with it. When I took her to the doctor earlier in the week he told me to keep looking after her as I’d been doing with plenty of drinks, and paracetamol if she had a temperature. But if he’d given her penicillin she’d be better by now wouldn’t she?

People often go straight to their GP for antibiotics when they have a cough, cold or flu, not realising that antibiotics are only effective against bacterial illnesses. So the risks (possible side effects and Chloe developing resistance) outweigh the benefits. The headcold is likely to be due to a virus so antibiotics won’t work) and Chloe will be better soon anyway (hopefully).

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I took an antibiotic recently for a really bad cough but although that’s better I’ve now gone back again to my GP with an itchy rash down below, which she said was due to the antibiotics. So that’s put me off taking antibiotics again!

A downside to antibiotics is that they can have unpleasant side effects. These include sickness, diarrhoea, stomach pains, headaches and new infections like thrush – in someone’s mouth or on their skin, as for you.